Tilden Glassblower
Description Tilden has a fit, leanly muscled build, and is actually surprisingly strong for his size. His weathered features and neatly trimmed mustache and goatee mean that he's not going to be confused for a human child any time soon. He typically wears a suit of hide armor (he has already taken druidic vows against metal armor), and is rarely seen without his greatsword strapped to his back or in his hands. Personality Tilden tends to be somewhat withdrawn, and very focused. He has a lot of discipline, but when he lets his focus wane, one can see signs of deep-seated rage within him. Basically, he's strung more taut than his longbow. He has a strong mistrust for clerics; though he can work with them, he'd tend to be aggressively suspicious. He despises fiends and those who consort with them. He rarely relaxes in the company of other people, although when alone in a natural setting, or accompanied only by animals, he can loosen up some. He tends to avoid alcohol, though when he does indulge, he has about even odds of being a funny or angry drunk. Disciplined: Tilden tends to focus very intently on the task at hand. There are few things that can distract him once he sets his mind to a goal. Clear Headed: Tilden has some deep-seated hatreds and prejudices, and quite a bit of unresolved rage, but he's become very good at controlling it. It makes him quite adept at keeping his cool in times of stress. Heart of a Ranger: Despite all else, Tilden likes to think of himself as a classical ranger; a protector of nature and civilization alike, determined and heroic in his way. Though he won't always put others before himself (especially when there's vengeance to be had), Tilden will fight to defend others and risk his life for a worthy cause. Hatred: Tilden despises fiends and those who consort with them, and will react to such encounters violently if not forestalled. Mistrust: Tilden has trouble trusting clerics of any stripe. He can work with them, but won't be happy about it, and won't be afraid to show that fact. Vengeance: Tilden above all seeks to avenge his sister's murder by Cherace Seltan, which could distract him from other goals or be used to manipulate him. The fact that Cherace is a fairly powerful priest of Talos also doesn't help. Bloodlust: When combat is joined, Tilden can be surprisingly vicious, venting his anger on his foes, mercilessly mowing them down with his sword. He has a sort of predator's cunning, so he doesn't fight without tactics, but once steel is drawn, it sometimes takes effort to get him to back down or show mercy. Dain Ownsbridge ((I figure Human Ranger) Cherace Seltan ((Again, I'd figure Human Cleric 7 of Talos History Tilden grew up in Daedrammor, a small town on the outskirts of Battledale, populated mostly by humans, halflings, and gnomes. His parents were farmers, maintaining extensive fruit and vegetable gardens, and Tilden from a young age was fond of the outdoors. Even as a boy, he was a good hand with a sling, often hunting rats and pests that would damage his family's crops. He found that sort of challenge much more interesting than farming, and at sixteen, took an apprenticeship with a human ranger named Dain Ownsbridge. Dain taught him quite a bit about fighting and shooting, wilderness lore and hunting, and Tilden became respectably proficient with sword and bow. Although he tried to be attentive through all his lessons, it was combat training that Tilden most enjoyed. He didn't quite have the patience for tracking, and his studies of natural lore were half-hearted at best. Tilden's sister Keira, one year younger than he, was equally uninterested in mundane farming. Not-so-mundane farming, however, she deemed more acceptable. She devoted herself to the priesthood of Chauntea, using the divine magic she learned to help her family's and neighbors' farms. When Tilden was twenty, Dain presented him with a suite of arms and a sturdy pony, and took him on his first real hunt, for some brigands that had been harassing travelers, and had recently murdered a pilgrim who didn't have the gold to pay their "tolls". The brigands were no strangers to woodcraft, and it took nearly two weeks to track them down and dispatch them. It was also Dain's first indication that Tilden was more than just an exuberant young man, but had a touch of bloodlust in him, the halfling charging headlong into battle with fearless glee. But when they returned, it was to the news that Tilden's sister had been killed. A week or so before they had left on their hunt, a traveling priest of Chauntea, Deacon Cherace Seltan, had come to the town for a brief stay. During his time there, he freely used his magic to help the small community, working spells beyond even the more experienced clerics the simple town had - neutralizing poisons, creating food and water, sculpting stone, and so on. What the town had no way of knowing, was that his allegiance and helpfulness was a sham. He was a cleric of Talos, seeking a suitable sacrifice to enlist the aid of a demon on behalf of a personal goal. Keira, an acolyte of Chauntea, fit the bill perfectly. Just to add divine insult to injury, he performed the sacrifice on the very altar of the Chauntean shrine, deconsecrating the entire place. By the time Tilden and Dain returned, Keira was dead and buried, and Cherace long gone. He flipped. Rode off alone, in fact, though when he didn't return for hours, Dain went after him, thinking he had tried to track down the powerful priest. But Tilden was hardly a master tracker; Dain found him waiting in an alley outside the shrine to Chauntea, mounted up and sword out. The ranger managed to talk him down, but not easily. In the coming days, Tilden swore vengeance on "all the treacherous, lying priests." He demanded Dain teach him more of the ranger's art, the detailed study of a hated foe, to better hunt and slay them. Initially, Tilden confined his queries to the study of fiends, which Dain had little experience fighting, though he did what he could to help, even introducing Tilden to a paladin friend of his, who helped instruct the halfling in some fiend-fighting and mounted combat tactics. However, it soon became clear that fiends were the first step. Tilden sought, more and more, information that would help him hunt and kill clerics of any stripe. Seeing his student consumed by misguided hatred, Dain brought him to a circle of druids. The druids, he told Tilden, would be much better teachers than he to learn how to combat divine magic. In truth, he requested the druids do what they could to help Tilden come to terms with what had happened and get past his anger, before he became a danger to others. It was slow going at first, but the druidic lifestyle lent itself well to contemplation, and poorly to unchecked anger. The druids affirmed that they could teach Tilden such magic as could help him fight other priests, but of course, with all his fury, the magic would not come easily to him. Playing on his desire to master the druidic arts, they gradually managed to help Tilden come to terms with what had happened, and make him realize that not all who followed the gods were villains to be destroyed. Slowly but surely, Tilden's grasp of druidic magic began to develop. Nothing too significant; little swirls of wind, attracting the attention of small animals, perking up a flower, little tricks not even on the level of orizons, but it was a start. One of the biggest factors in his development was when the druids brought him a pup, declaring it his responsibility to raise. Naming him Che, the dog gave Tilden something to dedicate himself to other than his hatred - although, when they were old enough, he did train them to support him in a fight or on a hunt, as he styled himself a protector of the druidic grove. However, it did seem like Tilden was making progress. Until, on one of his visits home, he and his parents overheard some people at the small restaurant they were eating at mention the name of Deacon Cherace. Tilden was quick to interrogate them about him, learning they had met the priest in Suzail - now acting as a cleric of Lathander. Barely even stopping to say goodbye to his parents, Tilden set out, gathering supplies and heading for Cormyr with his dog. Concerned, his parents did inform Dain when they next saw him, the ranger agreeing to go after his erstwhile student and try to bring him back, knowing that Deacon Cherace was far too powerful a cleric for Tilden to fight - but that was two weeks after Tilden left, and Cormyr, of course, is a big place. Category:Rock gnomes Category:Fighters